Methods of finishing valve bodies



July 22, 1958 J, sw -rz ET AL 2,843,920

METHQDS OF FINISHING VALVE BODIES Filed Feb. 24, 1954 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR. JAMES J. SWARTZ BY /RVl/V6 H. RUSSELL 'Mmm ATTORNEYS y 1958 J.J. SWARTZ ET AL 2,843,920

DS F F LIING VALVE BODIES Filed Feb. 24, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.JAMES J SWARTZ Vl/VG' H. RUSSELL A T TORNE Y8 United States PatentMETHODS OF FINISHING VALVE BODIES James J. Swartz, Berwyn, and Irving H.Russell, Oak Park, Ill., assignors to Sloan Valve Company, Chicago,111., a corporation of Illinois Application February 24, 1954, SerialNo. 412,154

2 Claims. (Cl. 29--157.1)

This invention relates in general to valves, but more particularly tothe economic and rapid production of valve bodies having irregularshaped body contours, and the principal object of the invention residesin the production of valve bodies requiring no grinding or polishingoperations before being plated.

Another object of the invention is to produce a cylindrical valve bodyhaving projections extending from the side walls thereof and in whichthe wall surface of the body is made smooth by a milling cutter tool ina single operation while the valve body is rotated for only a partialrevolution on its axis.

Valve bodies such as those used for brass flush valves on water closetsare cylindrical in shape and hollow, having a top opening which in thefinished product is provided with a closing cover, and a lower outletopening connectible to a tailpiece leading to a water closet. There isalso provided on the valve body a side projecting portion for theattachment of the inlet water supply pipe and an operating handleprojection and opening usually placed directly opposite the inletopening of the valve body. Such bodies require a finished wall surfacewhich must be extremely smooth suitable for the application of a highlustre plating such as chrome plating, com monly used for appearancepurposes and to resist corrosion. The finished surface must be free fromall blemishes, sand holes, dents, flats or grooves in order that theextremely smooth wall surface required for the chrome plating may beachieved. In normal production, brass flush valves as received from thefoundry are rough castings having wall surfaces which are extremelyrough.

The rough brass valve bodies are next placed in automatic chuckingmachines where several operations are performed upon them and the bodyprojections and openings. These operations take the form of threading,boring, reaming and forming.

Following the above, the valve bodies have in the past been taken up bya workman who manually placed each valve body against a rotatingabrasive wheel for the purpose of grinding and polished the side wallsurfaces into a smooth finish. Because of the projections on the body,the Workman repeatedly guided and rotated the body by hand through shortrotary arcs against the wheel to provide the smooth surface required.The degree of smoothness depended entirely upon the skill and judgmentof the workman in applying himself to the job and in any event it wasvery difficult to produce a perfect finish, and the valve body wouldusually have flat sides, grooves and indentations on its surface.Several different degrees of grinding and polishing wheels were alsoemployed in succession to gradually get smoother surfaces. Carefulinspection was required at all stages to eliminate surface imperfectionswhich would cause rejections after plating, but the porosity of therough casting could not be readily detected until polishing operationshad been completed. Final bufling operations then took place, afterwhich the bodies were degreased and cleaned preparatory for theapplication of the required copper flash ice coating, nickel coating andthe final high .lustre chrome plating finish.

The rate of production of the valve bodies when grinding and polishingwere done by hand was exceedingly slow and expensive, and imperfectionsin the surface resulted in many rejections after plating. Thisuneconomic rate of production was difiicult to overcomeand many attemptswere made to increase the production rate, all without effect. Thepresent invention has for its object, therefore, the production of avalve body in which the hand operated grinding and polishing operationsare entirely eliminated and in which the wall surfaces are made smoothsuitable for plating, by the single stroke of a cutting tool, about atrue center, while the body is axially being rotated a partialrevolution in an automatic milling machine. The resulting valve body hasa superior chrome plated finish and its appearance is greatly enhanced,since the side wall surfaces are uniformly smooth and evenly roundedwith surfaces arcuately described about true centers, with no flatportions or depressions usually encountered in hand polished valvebodies. Casting imperfections are also more readily detected after themilling operation than was formerly possible. The rate of productionmoreover has been increased almost 200 percent over the hand polishingmethod, thereby greatly reducing the cost of producing the valve body.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a full side view of a flush valve and associated throttle madeaccording to the invention and showing the valve completely assembled asused;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the valve body only;

Fig. 3 is a top view of the valve body;

Fig. 4 shows an end elevation of the body; while Figs. 5 and 6 show sideand top views of a throttle or stop valve body used with the flushvalve; and

Fig. 7 diagrammatically illustrates steps in forming the initial castingfor receipt of the final plating.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, the flush valve body illustrated isusually formed of a rough brass casting consisting of a cylindricallyshaped hollow body, indicated generally at 5, having an opening 6 at thetop for the enclosing cover 7 and a lower outlet 8 to which a tailpiece9 is 1 leading to a water closet or other fixture. Extending from oneside near the top end of the body is a projection 10 for the receptionof the inlet supply nipple ll, while on the opposite side and lower end,also extending from the valve body, is the opening 12 for attachment ofthe flush valve operating handle 13. The internal operating mechanismnot shown, normally rests upon the valve seat 14- inside of the Valvebody 5.

The initial steps in the finishing of the rough casting consists inplacing the casting, for example, in automatic chucking machines inwhich the tools operate axially or radially from the end of each of theopenings in the body to elfect the required work upon it. From the upperend the internal walls of the valve body are milled smooth, the threads15 cut and the valve seat 14 formed. The cutting tool also smooths therounded exterior wall surface 16 of the upper portion of the body downto a point indicated at 17, the flat portion 18 on top of the projection10 being formed at the same time. At the lower end of the body the lowerinterior wall surface is machined, the threads 19 are cut, and a radialundercut made at 2t! below opening 12. Another operation consists inboring the opening 12 and cutting the threads 21 and facing 22. Theinlet opening 10 is next bored and threaded internally (not shown) andthe exterior surface 23 cut smooth up to the point indicated at 24.

It will be noted that the wall surfaces 25 and 26 extendcircumferentially around the body from each side of the projections 10and 12 respectively, and that the upper body portion is of largerdiameter than the lower portion. It is also apparent that it would beextremely difficult or impossible to mill or machine these surfacessmooth by employing ordinary known methods or machines, because the body5 cannot be rotated axially a full revolution due to the presence of theprojections ltl and 12.

The milling operations upon the body surfaces and 26 may, for example,be accomplished with the method and machine disclosed in. Patent2,507,998, issued May 16, 1950, to lrving H. Russell. In this automaticmachine similar valve bodies are shown as being polished automaticallyupon the identical wall surfaces 25 and 26 by rotating the bodiesaxially for only a partial revolution against the polishing wheels. Thebodies are indexed to different stations to provide different degrees ofpolishing and grinding and in the first three stations the work isperformed upon the upper body portion 25 and the next three stations onthe lower body portion 2d. When milling cutters are employed in themachine of the aforesaid patent only one cutting tool is required forthe body surface 25 and another for surface 26 worked upon. One of themilling cutters must be shaped precisely to conform to the outline ofthe wall surface 25 and in one single operation mills the surface 25completely from a point extending from the edge 2d of projection ltd andbetween the points 17 and 27, around to the opposite side of theprojection, MD to a similar edge 24. The milling cutter as shown inFig.7 may rotate about a stationary axis and, the valve body 5 is firstmoved to a position against the cutter at a point approximately thatindicated at 29 where a shallow arcuately concave cut 29 is first madein the body side. The body is then axially rotated in one directionthrough an arc of approximately 200 degrees while the milling cutter iscutting the smooth surface 25 around it in a single operation. Themilling cutter is also so shaped as to mill an undercut surface 3th inthe body at the same time, and also the flat surface 31 on top ofopening 12. The result is an arcuate surface with a reverse curve ateach end.

The body 5 is next moved to a position where another milling cutter 51can work upon the lower wall surface 26. Beginning at the edge 22 andcutting the shallow arcuate depression 32, the milling cutter smoothsthe entire rounded wall surface 26 to the opposite side of projection 12to an edge similar to 22, as the body is axially rotated in the oppositedirection from that in which the body was first rotated. This millingcutter is so shaped that during the foregoing operation the flat smoothunder side 28 is cut beneath the projection ltd. This fiat surface 28together with the opposite fiat surface 18 enables a wrench to beapplied in an installation to assist in inserting the nipple Ill. Thecuts overlap, and meet along a defined line 27, with the lower cutoverlapping the upper. Both cuts end in reverse curves.

The valve body has now been completely milled, with its outer wallsurfaces out very smooth and deep enough to eliminate all possible pinholes, depressions, flats and other irregularities usually present onthe surface of a rough brass casting. All surfaces are perfectly roundedor flat where required. The rounded surfaces are truly arcuate in crosssection, in planesperpendicular to the axes about which they aredescribed. Therefore it is not necessary to provide any furtherpolishing or grinding operations upon the body since the surfaces do notrequire it. Because the several grinding and polishing operationsformerly required are entirely eliminated, the production of the bodiesis greatly accelerated, a better and smoother reflective surface isproduced, rejects are eliminated, and production costs greatly reduced.Production runs as high as 200 bodies per hour have been attainedcompared to about 10 per hour with hand grinding methods.

After the valve bodies are completely milled smooth, it is desirablethat they be given a simple bufiing and 4 t then a quick color surfacebuffing before they .are cleaned and degreased. This involves no changein body contour. Then a copper flash is applied, then a nickel platedcoating, and finally the chrome plating, to give one plating example.Because the body surfaces have been entirely milled smooth, the chromeplated finish acquires an extremely high lustre polish not possible whenhand polishing and grinding are performed, thereby greatly enhancing theappearance of the valve body.

now to Figs. 5 and 6, these show the throttle or stop valve body 4tassociated with the flush valve 5, and connected to the same by thenipple 11 coupled into the outlet end 41' of the stop. The threadedinlet opend3 of the stop has hexagonal flats 44 formed on it so the seepcan be threaded onto the inlet water supply pipe, not shown. The upperend 45 of the body receives the bonnet and attached valve member.Threading, boring and other operations necessary are performed upon theparts 41, d2, 43, 4-5, and W by automatic chucking machines and thefinal operations for smoothing the body surface 46 are performed in thesame manner as that on the flush valve body 5. The body 49 is axiallyrotated for less than a full revolution (on account of projection 42)and the rotary milling cutter cuts from the point 47 around the bodysurface 46 in a single sweep to a similar point :7 on the opposite sideof the projection 42. The stop body 4d consequently requires no furtheroperations upon it and the polishing and grinding operations areentirely eliminated.

It is to be understood that any other irregular shaped valve body may beproduced according to the invention, and while only a single preferredembodiment has been illustrated and described, it is desired that theinvention be not limited to the precise structure disclosed, but only bythe scope of the appended claims.

The present application is a continuation-in-part of our copendingapplication Serial No. 213,785, filed on March 13, 1951, now abandoned,for Valve Body.

The use and operation of the invention are as follows:

As will be clear from the drawings, our method is effective to producean exceedingly sightly flush valve body in which all exposed surfacesare either truly flat, as at 18 and 28, or truly arcuate in transversecross-section, as at 16, Ztl, 25 and 26. it will be observed that thesurfaces 25 and 26 terminate in reverse curves, also truly arcuate, asshown at 29 and 32. Furthermore, all the surfaces thus formed intersectalong clear and regularly defined lines or angles. The surface 25preferably slightly overlaps the surface 25. The surfaces 25 and Zdmeetthe surfaces 16 and 20 along defined lines, as, for example, at 17 andZita. The surfaces 25 and 26 intersect or merge along defined lines, asat 22 or Z4, with the surfaces 31 and 18. Thus, a valve body ofcontrolled regularity of contour and clean-cut form is provided, inwhich all surfaces are smoothly milled or finished, and in which surfaceimperfections, fiaws and unintended flats or irregularities arecompletely lacking, with metal plating directly applied to saidsurfaces.

Whereas some of the steps of our method can be practiced with themachine shown in the above-mentioned Russell Patent No. 2,507,998, itwill be understood that other means may be employed. What we feel to beessential, however, is that, in succession, we form truly arcuatesurfaces or truly flat surfaces, and so form or relate the surfaces thatthey meet along defined lines or angles, with the entire exteriorsurface of the valve body occupied by one or another of said truly flator truly arcuate surfaces, or with such threads as may be employed. Thepractice of our invention, therefore, completely avoids the necessity ofany hand finishing, or hand grinding, or hand forming. Since only trulyarcuate or truly flat surfaces need be dealt with, we perform ourplating step directly upon the mechanically formed surfaces, Without anyintermediate hand forming step. The result is not merely the eliminationof hand forming, but the avoidance of the highly undesirable results ofhand forming. It is impossible to form parts or grind parts by handwithout resultant irregularities and flats, which greatly reduce thebeauty and evenness of finish of the final article.

We claim:

1. The method of making a flush valve body, which includes providing ahollow brass casting having generally radial, tubular projections and abuilt up portion between the projections and body, including the stepsof threading and shaping the opposite ends of the valve body and theouter ends of said projections with truly arcuate circumferentialsurfaces thereabout, cutting fiat surfaces on the upper and lowersurfaces of the built up portions, generating a uniform out about theaxis of the valve body from the upper portion thereof in overlappingrelation with the upper end surface to a zone spaced below an upperprojection by passing a cutting tool into cutting contact with saidbody, while said body is slowly rotating, from a line of junctionbetween an arcuate shaped side portion of said projection at said builtup portion and a reversely curved portion of the body between saidprojection and the main portion of said body to a similar line ofjunction on the opposite side surface of said projection, and thenpassing a cutting tool into cutting contact with said body, while saidbody is rotating from a similar line of junction between an end of alower projection to a similarly formed line of junction on the oppositeside of said last named projection at said built up portion with saidlast named cutting contact being made in overlapping relation to thelower shaped surface on the lower end of the valve body and to the firstnamed uniform cut, and thereafter directly plating the surface soformed.

2. The method of making a flush valve body formed from a hollow brasscasting with at least one tubular projection extending radially from thelongitudinal axis of said body and a shoulder between the projection andbody, 7

including the steps of threading and shaping the ends of said body andprojection with truly arcuate circumferential surfaces thereabout,generating a flat surface on the projection between the arcuate surfaceof said projection and said body with the flat surface extending atright angles to the axis of the body, passing a milling cutter intocutting contact with said body, while said body is slowly rotating,along a line having a portion generally parallel to the axis of thebody, which portion extends from a point above said projection and inoverlapping relation to the shaped upper surface of the body, andanother portion extending inwardly toward the axis of said body to alevel below said projection, with the cut made by the milling cutterstarting and terminating at a line of junction between a reverselycurved portion of said body on each side of said projection and betweensaid body and the arcuate shaped side surfaces on the end of saidprojection, whereby all such surfaces meet in defiined edges orjunctions, and thereafter directly plating on the surface so formed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,507,998 Russell May 16, 1950

